Three years later, disaster strikes. Or rather, the Troggs do. The Puddlejumpers are forced to flee with a human toddler many times larger than themselves. In an escape of breathtaking desperation, the child is separated from his tiny guardians, found by a truck driver, and left on the steps of an orphanage in Chicago with no clues about where he came from except a crystal acorn (from the Puddlejumpers) and an Ernie Banks baseball card (from the truck driver).
So the wild Wawaywo child, who remembers nothing of being Shawn Frazier, grows up as a Chicago orphan named - guess what! - Ernie Banks. The cruelty of the dormitory matron pushes Ernie into one act of defiance after another, until the only thing standing between him and the state reformatory is a summer stint as a farm laborer. And by a chance more remarkable than Ernie understands, the farm belongs to Russ Frazier!
Ernie finds the country around Circle, Illinois, depressed by a long drought and terrorized by the Holsapple family, who have been strip-mining every acre of land they can get hold of. Befriended by a girl named Joey, inspired by the kindness of a man he doesn't know is his own father, Ernie vows to solve the mystery of the Quilt Baby -- which is to say, his own disappearance. But before he works it all out, he must renew his acquaintance with a secret world threatened by enemies too terrifying for any ordinary boy to face. And face them he must, because not only the Puddlejumpers' world but his own family and community are at stake.
I found this book on the discount table at Borders last December, and forgot about it till now. I won't forget it again soon. It is a powerful, vividly imagined tale, told with great energy and conviction. I also suspect that, hidden in the description of the Most Dark that overshadows the climax of the book, there is an environmental message that will make it even more meaningful to green-conscious kids. But that's up to the reader to decide for himself. I hope a lot of readers will find it, one way or another.
